"Pressure on freedom of media, lack of investigation into tortures and continued use of torture methods at prisons of Ukraine is unfortunately added by another theme that has been escalating of late - I would call this aggression, large-scale attack on legitimate rights of Orthodox believers in Ukraine," Dolgov told a session of Duma’s working group for legal analysis of legislative procedures and enactments adopted in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law explained that he referred to an ongoing "vicious chain of arson attacks on Orthodox churches of the Moscow Patriarchate, their seizure by force with the help of volunteer battalions, the Right Sector (radical nationalist movement) with direct connivance and sometimes participation of law enforcement agencies."